Method of Providing Neighbor Information and Method of Generating Neighbor Location Information

1. A method of generating neighbor information, performed in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: transmitting, by a base station or a relay station, a location request message to at least one node belonging to the wireless communication network; receiving, by the base station or the relay station, a location response message from the at least one node; and generating a neighbor list using the location response message, and generating, by the base station or the relay station, a neighbor advertisement message using the neighbor list.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the neighbor list is generated by setting a predetermined number of zones based on a predetermined reference point, and by selecting nodes according to a local policy for each zone.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined number of zones is non-uniformly set according to a distribution of neighboring nodes.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the reference point corresponds to the base station or the relay station.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location response message comprises location information of the at least one node that received the location request message transmitted by the base station.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the neighbor list comprises a distance and an angle between the base station or the relay station and the at least one node.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location request message comprises a report type field indicating whether to receive the location response message regularly or intermittently, or indicating whether to receive the location response message when a particular event is triggered.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein, when the location response message is received in response to the particular event, the location request message comprises a report metric field indicating a metric that triggers the particular event.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location request message requests location information of other nodes excluding the at least one node receiving the location request message.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the location request message comprises a node index field of each node in which determining of the location information is requested.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location response message comprises location information of the at least one node that received the location request message transmitted by the base station or relay station.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the location response message comprises a coordinate type field indicating a coordinate type of the location information.

13. A method of providing neighbor information, performed in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving, by a node, a neighbor advertisement message that is broadcast from a base station or a relay station over the wireless communication network; receiving, by the node, a neighbor information message that is transmitted from the base station or the relay station; generating a second neighbor advertisement message comprising at least one portion of a neighbor list comprised in the neighbor advertisement message, using the neighbor advertisement message and the neighbor information message; and broadcasting, by the node, the second neighbor advertisement message over the wireless communication network.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neighbor list is generated by referring to a predetermined reference point and to positions of neighboring nodes.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the neighbor list is generated by setting a predetermined number of zones based on the reference point, and by selecting neighboring nodes according to a local policy for each zone.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the predetermined number of zones is non-uniformly set according to a distribution of the neighboring nodes.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neighbor list is customized for the base station or the relay station and thereby is generated by referring to a distance between the base station or the relay station and neighboring nodes.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the neighbor list is generated by setting a predetermined number of zones based on the base station or the relay station, and by selecting neighboring nodes according to a local policy for each zone.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neighbor information message corresponds to a unicast message.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neighbor information message comprises a neighbor station type field.

21. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neighbor information message comprises location information of a neighbor station.

22. The method of claim 13 , wherein: a node receiving the second neighbor advertisement message corresponds to a mobile station, and the mobile station determines a neighbor to be scanned using the neighbor list comprised in the second neighbor advertisement message, and performs a scan process with respect to the neighbor to be scanned.

23. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neighbor advertisement message is generated by: transmitting, by the base station or the relay station, a location request message to the node; receiving, by the base station or the relay station, a location response message that is transmitted from the node in response to the location request message; forming, by the base station or the relay station, a neighbor location information table using the location response message; and generating, by the base station or the relay station, the neighbor advertisement message using the neighbor location information table.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the location response message comprises location information of the node.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the neighbor location information table stores a distance or an angle between the base station or the relay station and the node.

26. The method of claim 13 , wherein the wireless communication network corresponds to a multi-hop wireless communication network.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program to implement a method of providing neighbor information, performed in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving, by a node, a neighbor advertisement message that is broadcast from a base station or a relay station over the wireless communication network; receiving, by the node, a neighbor information message that is transmitted from the base station or the relay station; generating a second neighbor advertisement message comprising at least one portion of a neighbor list comprised in the neighbor advertisement message, using the neighbor advertisement message and the neighbor information message; and broadcasting, by the node, the second neighbor advertisement message over the wireless communication network.

28. A method of providing neighbor information, performed in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: broadcasting, by a base station or a relay station, a neighbor advertisement message over the wireless communication network; generating, by the base station or the relay station, a neighbor information message with respect to each of at least one node in the wireless communication network; and transmitting, by the base station or the relay station, the generated neighbor information message to each of the at least one node.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein the neighbor information message is generated by referring to a predetermined reference point and positions of neighboring nodes.

30. The method of claim 28 , wherein the neighbor advertisement message is generated by: transmitting, by the base station or the relay station, a location request message to each of the at least one node; receiving, by the base station or the relay station, a location response message that is transmitted from each of the at least node in response to the location request message; forming, by the base station or the relay station, a neighbor location information table using the location response message; and generating, by the base station or the relay station, the neighbor advertisement message using the neighbor location information table.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the location response message comprises location information of each of the at least one node.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the neighbor location information table stores a distance or an angle between the base station or the relay station and the at least one node.

33. The method of claim 28 , wherein the neighbor information message is generated based on interference with at least one another node, measured by each of the at least one node.

34. A network apparatus in a wireless communication network, comprising: a communication unit configured to broadcast a neighbor advertisement message over the wireless communication network; and a controller configured to generate a neighbor information message with respect to each of at least one node in the wireless communication network, wherein the communication unit transmits the generated neighbor information message to each of the at least one node.

35. The network apparatus of claim 34 , wherein the network apparatus corresponds to one of a base station, a relay station, a network control unit, and a mobile station.

36. A method of generating and providing neighbor information, performed in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving, by a base station or a relay station, a location response message transmitted from at least one node in response to a location request message; generating a neighbor list according to the location response message; transmitting, from the base station or the relay station, a first neighbor advertisement message to the at least one node; generating a second neighbor advertisement message that includes at least a portion of the first neighbor advertisement message; and transmitting, by the at least one node, the second neighbor advertisement message.